The first American to referee a game between two other countries. Donaghy, who began refereeing after the end of his playing days more than a decade before, refereed all three games of the World Cup qualifying series between Mexico and Cuba in Mexico City in March 1934.

Donaghy, who started the American portion of his playing career shortly after emigrating from Scotland in 1951, played until 1919 for a series of Pennsylvania teams, Philadelphia Tacony, Philadelphia Hibernians, Bethlehem Steel, Homewood Steel, Braddock and Castle Shannon. Throughout the 1920s, he refereed most of the important regional games in Western Pennsylvania, and then moved on to national games, handling the 1930 U.S. Open Cup final between the Fall River Marksmen and Cleveland Buell Insurance, and the 1934 U.S. Open Cup final between Stix, Baer & Fuller of St. Louis and the Pawtucket Rangers.

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Founded in 1993 by American soccer historian Sam T.N. Foulds, the Society for American Soccer History (SASH) works to promote, facilitate, and disseminate research into the rich history of soccer in the United States.